


Normalcy to Magic

by Taylor_WritesFanfics



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Magic, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, M/M, Magic, Morality | Patton Sanders Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24557746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taylor_WritesFanfics/pseuds/Taylor_WritesFanfics
Summary: Patton Brooks, Logan Ernest, Roman Kent, and Virgil Staiger are surprised with letters from the local magic academy, Astrealonia. When their thoughts manage to get them down, how will they manage to defeat a monster?
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	1. 1

...

Logan Ernest expected a lot of himself. Since he was sent to school he had done incredibly in all of his classes. Every single teacher liked him, and he preferred their conversation to the conversation of other students. This lead to a ton of resentment from his classmates, as the teachers knew pretty much everything about them. That made Logan kind of a pain to be around. But schools loved him. When he was applying to high schools, he got a ton of acceptance letters, and the more that came in, the more he wondered why he had backup plans. But he received one letter from a school he didn't apply to, one he thought he couldn't apply to. Astrealonia.

Astrealonia was a school for magic that sent out letters to kids with so-called 'gifts.' Logan thought the whole thing was preposterous. "Magie n'est pas réel! " he insisted to his parents when they said he had to go.

"Logie," his mother said, "C'est une opportunité pour toi!"

"Tu vas à l'Astrealonia. Non questions. Comprends?" His father stated.

"Oui, papa," Logan replied, slight shame in his voice. He walked slowly to his bedroom and started rereading his favourite book,  _ The Murder of Rodger Ackroyd _ .

...

Roman Kent was ecstatic. He got a letter from his dream school. A school of magic! He did have a gift!

"Mom! I have something to show you!" He exclaimed. Running up the stairs to his brother's bedroom, where his mother was.

"Give me a second sweetie, I'm putting your brother down for a nap."

"Okay, mom!" He said, so excited to tell his mother the good news. He sat at the table, anticipating his mother coming down the stairs.

"Okay, what do you have to show me, Ro?" She said, coming down the stairs slowly, in slight pain. Roman grabbed his mother's wrist and lightly dragged her to the table.

"So you know how I've always dreamed of going to magic school?" he asked, semi-rhetorically, excitement prominent in his voice. His mother nodded, and he laid down his Astrealonia acceptance letter.

"Oh my god, Ro! I'm so proud of you!" She exclaimed, standing up and pulling her son into a hug. "What should we do to celebrate?"

Roman thought for a few seconds, before saying, "Disney marathon? Just you and me?" His mother nodded but then added a clarification when his baby brother started crying.

"Maybe later tonight, honey. When your brother's in bed."

Roman nodded and went back to his homework.

...

"Virge!" Patton yelled as he ran back inside from his mailbox, "did you get your Astrealonia student information?"

"I'll check," Virgil said before getting off his phone and walking quickly to his mailbox next door. He came back with a piece of parchment, just like Patton's. "Does it say we're rooming together on your sheet?"

Patton looked over his sheet, reading it quickly, before replying, "Yep! Dorm number 2489. Brooks, Ernest, Kent, Staiger."

"Ernest? Kent?" Virgil asked, slightly anxious and aggravated, "Like Logan Ernest? And Roman Kent?"

"I think so," Patton replied, "it says our dorm holds the boys from Concrete City Junior High."

_ Shit _ . Virgil thought to himself. He knew that both Roman and Logan hated him. Logan just seemed aloof and never really talking to other students. Their teachers praised him though, as he got the best grades and the nicest notes and he always knew all the answers. Most other students liked him too, not only because he would do most of the work in group projects, but also because puberty turned him from a short, chubby nerd to a taller, handsome young man. Anyone would think he looked good, including Virgil.

Roman just acted like a snob, like he was above basically everyone, especially Virgil.

"Please say you're gonna be there for me?" Virgil asked Patton, kind of pathetically.

"Of course Virge. I'll always be there for you." Patton said bringing the lazing, anxious boy into a hug. Virgil returned the favour, and he felt Patton's fingers start to play with the strands of his purple hair. Virgil smiled lightly. He was so lucky to have a friend like Patton.

"Now, I think it's time we made some cookies!" Patton exclaimed, dragging him into the kitchen.

...

Summer came and went very quickly for these four young boys, as they were now preparing to board at Astrealonia.

They had each packed their neccessary things, as well as their precious items; Logan's books, Roman's makeup and jewlery, Patton's craft supplies, Virgil's headphones and speakers. After that, they were set.

Logan walked in as Roman was setting up the vanity. He hardly acknowledged the fanciful boy, but Roman noticed him walk by through the vanity mirror as Logan took the bed farthest from the door.

"So it was Logan Ernest I'm forced into a dorm with," Roman stated when he saw the nerdy boy walk by.

"Ah, Roman Kent. Nice to see you're here already. I see you've claimed your ego-matching vanity?" Logan answered sarcastically.

"I have. I assume you're claiming the bookshelf?" Roman replied, his tone just as sarcastic.

"Of course. Are you working on your next play?" Logan asked, giving Roman a judgemental glare.

Roman wasn't working on a play. Roman hadn't worked on a play since his seventh grade one about Duke Ernest of Aserton.

The rejection had killed him.

Patton arrived next, taking the bed next to Roman's, and after his bed was made, he watched as some magical force put Logan's books on the shelf as the logical boy and the fanciful boy argue.

Logan decided the argument wasn't worth it anymore when Virgil arrived. Virgil took the last bed, next to Logan's. He set up his purple bedding and lay down before they were called to meet in the dining hall.

"First years to the dining hall!" A dorm attendant yelled, alerting them that they had to leave. Logan immediately stood up and walked out, and the other boys slowly followed him, Roman going last. And they sat down in 4 of the seats labelled 'Concrete City Junior High' assuming the rest were for girls from their school.

"Welcome new Astrealonia students!" A woman in a suit said, coming onto the stage. "I am sure you are all very excited to be here."

Logan rolled his eyes, not excited to be at a school that taught utter bullshit. Roman's response shocked him though because he looked ecstatic. He shouldn't have been surprised, Roman always believed in stuff like that. He talked about Astrealonia constantly through all of junior high, and elementary school too. He just always seemed to believe in magic.

That used to be endearing to Logan, but our tastes change as we get older.

The woman on stage continued, "I understand that some of you might be skeptical of what we do here, especially some of you first years."

That line was the one that confused Roman. Why would anyone be skeptical of magic? Then he looked to Logan, leaning back, sitting legs crossed, his arms crossed as well. He didn't seem to believe a word of what this woman, who they learned was their principal, Mrs. Comstock, said. Logan never believed in magic, he preferred the fascinating world we live in.

That used to be something Roman liked, but our tastes change as we get older.

Mrs. Comstock's speech continued on, for a long while. Virgil fell asleep halfway through, with Patton waking him up as she sent them all to their dorms to change into their uniforms before dinner.

...

The four were sat at the same dinner table, the one for local junior high schools. The first years were all sat based on the school that they went to because tables were later sorted based on gifts.

"You will sit at your gift table when you find out what your gift is," Principal Comstock had told them.

"Do you guys have any idea what gifts are?" Patton asked his roommates.

"Nah," Roman said nonchalantly, focussed more on his food.

"I've done a little bit of reading on the subject," Logan began, "and while I think this is unlikely to be true, it seems a 'gift' is a magical ability, supposedly coded into an individual's genetics at birth, but doesn't appear until puberty. I think it has something to do with-"

Logan would continue, but Roman cut him off.

"English, nerd."

"A gift is a magical ability in your DNA, that activates during puberty," Logan restated, "Does that make sense to you, you malodorous scenturian?"

"Thanks for that," Roman replied.

"How do they know we have gifts?" Patton asked.

"That's what I can't figure out," Logan stated, slightly frustrated, "These books just treat it like it's normal, and give no explanation for how anyone figures out they have gifts! For all we know, we could've been picked randomly!"

"What if that's a gift?" Virgil suggested, "what if someone can sense someone's genetics?"

"That's unlikely," Logan said, before pondering the thought a bit more, "though you might be right. It's the only explanation we have."

"You won't be curious much longer, boys." Principal Comstock said, walking up behind them, "Your determining is in half an hour."

…


	2. 2

…

Half an hour came and went, and the four were soon in an empty classroom. Only a few objects were laid out around the room. They were given very few instructions before being sent in. Why were they always put together?

Logan went immediately to the book laying out on the table and started to read. This book wasn't in the library, and detailed the different kinds of gifts and how they worked. It was very interesting, though the things it described seemed implausible to him. Until Patton drew his attention away from the words in the book.

"Uh, Logan? Your book is floating."

Logan looked up from the words on the page and looked at the book itself. It was indeed levitating above the ground to his eye level, and the pages were turning on their own. Or at least without his hands interfering.

"It seems it is," Logan replied, after examining it.

"Is that your gift?" Patton asked. Logan flipped to the first gift he had read about.  _ Psychothaumaturgy: The ability to manipulate and communicate only with the mind. _

"Possibly?" he told Patton, "if that is the case, I would have Psychothaumatugy."

"If it's any help, I noticed the books putting themselves on the bookshelf while you were arguing with Roman," Patton stated.

That was confusing. Logan didn't believe in magic, how could he possibly have it? And be using it unconsciously? Magic wasn't real.

Or was it?

Virgil found himself on the other side of the room, listening to music. Looking at Logan making semi-wonders over with Patton. He didn't want to be seen with them. Right now, he didn't want to be seen at all.  _ This Is How I Disappear  _ came on in Virgil's headphones, and he closed his eyes.

_ Without you is how I disappear. _

"Logan, are you making Virgil's headphones float too?" Patton asked, pointing to the area where Virgil was.

_ My headphones aren't floating,  _ Virgil thought,  _ I'm wearing them. _

"I don't believe so, I didn't even notice they were there. Virgil would probably want them though, where is he?" Logan stated

Virgil waved his hand in the air to signal where he was, but they didn't seem to notice.

"Has the emo gone missing? We should probably find him. Virgil! Where are you?" Roman yelled into the mostly empty room.

Virgil was pissed. Were they playing some cruel joke on him? This was stupid. Did they want to make fun of him so much that they'd do this? Virgil stood up and yelled, "I'm right here!"

The other three were in shock. He wasn't there a second ago, and he seemed to sort of fade in. Logan started flipping through the book, looking for something in there to explain what just happened. Patton and Roman walked up to Virgil.

"What happened there, surly temple? You were like, gone!" Roman asked.

Virgil replied, "I-I don't know, I just, wanted to disappear an- and then, y-you guys couldn't find me."

Patton lit up, "Could you, turn invisible?" Virgil shrugged, and he and Patton looked to Logan.

"There is a gift, Invisithaumaturgy, which is the ability to turn invisible, but it most commonly appears with another gift of the defensive variety," Logan stated, looking back at them.

"Does that mean Virgil has another gift?" Patton asked excitedly. Virgil looked at Logan with slight concern.

"In all likelihood, yes."

Virgil looked shocked. How could he possibly have another gift? Weren't you only supposed to have one? As he thought more, Logan walked closer. Staring deeply into Virgil's soul.

"I believe that gift is the ability to create a shield or defensithaumaturgy. You might want to test that out though." Logan said, still looking quite intensely into Virgil's eyes.

"O-okay?" Virgil closed his eyes and attempted to form a shield.

_ Focus, _ he thought to himself,  _ make a shield. _

__ It didn't seem to work. "Maybe I can't do that," Virgil said, looking down at his hands and then up at the others.

"Eh, whatever. I've got to find out what my gift is anyway, can't focus on this emo," Roman threw his hands in the air, and accidentally launched his phone towards Virgil.

The world seemed to move slower for a second. Virgil watched the phone fly towards him, inching closer. In a moment of panic, Virgil threw his arms in front of his face and closed his eyes. 

He felt nothing.

Logan flipped through the book again. Patton just stared at him in slight shock, but more in awe. "You can make a shield! That's amazing!" Patton exclaimed as he started to jump up and down and shake his hands about excitedly.

"Logan was right," Roman walked towards his phone, "I didn't expect him to be right on that one, but he's right," he picked it up, the screen badly cracked, "is there some magic that can fix this or do I have to take it back to Concrete City this weekend?"

Roman's question was thoroughly ignored, and they continued to discover their gifts. Logan was pacing around the room as he read, looking for gifts that Patton and Roman might have. "Never displayed previous signs of magic- not sociopaths-" Logan continued to mutter seemingly random sentences as the search grew more frantic. It was approaching lights out, and frankly, they wanted to get some sleep.

After about fifteen minutes of trying out anything and everything, Roman had given up on looking for his gift and resorted to scrolling on his phone (definitely risking a cut). His hand felt strangely warm, but he ignored that, along with Logan's nonsense yapping. Why was he always around? Why could he never escape that memory? He wished Logan would just not exist sometimes. Disintegrate.

Burn.

His hand felt warmer. Warmer, warmer, and warmer until he looked up from his phone long enough to notice...

His hand was on fire.

Roman screamed and dropped his phone again.  _ Shit. _

Logan walked up to him. "As I suspected, pyrothaumaturgy: the ability to create and manipulate fire."

"Yeah, uh, how do I stop it?"

"I'm not sure," Logan flipped through the book, "This book doesn't tell me anything about how to use magic."

"God, you're never any help," Roman rolled his eyes, "Hey hand, could you- I don't know- maybe, stop being on fire? That'd be super great, thanks."

That didn't work. Roman closed his eyes. He just wished his hand would  _ stop burning _ .

Then it did. And everything was fine. Thank goodness. And the more Roman thought about it, that was pretty cool. First, he got into magic school, now he has fire powers. That's cool.

Patton wandered over to Logan because with that book, he seemed to know the most about gifts. "Hey Logan?" he called.

"Yes, Patton? What is your question?"

"Is there a gift where you can see other people's gifts? Like Virgil said at dinner, sensing someone's genetics?"

Logan skimmed through the book once more, "Yes, actually. 'Gift Sight' it's called. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I think you might have it. You guessed both Roman and Virgil's gifts correctly, and I kinda hope you do because I don't know how to figure out my gift," Patton rambled on.

"Well, there are a couple gifts that can only be found by consulting someone with gift sight. I could test with you because it seems like they're going to come in and tell us our gifts before lights out," Logan said, and he drew his attention to Patton's light blue eyes and began to stare.

"What are you doing?" Patton asked.

"I'm doing the same thing I did with Virgil and Roman," Logan continued to stare deep into Patton's eyes. It took a few minutes, but eventually, Logan was looking through the book.

Logan couldn't believe what he'd seen in Patton's eyes. It was unlike Patton, from what he'd seen. Patton was caring and kind, but what he saw in there was manipulative, evil, almost. It was strange. But it did match a couple of gifts in the book. "Patton it seems you have illusiothaumaturgy and pathothaumaturgy."

"What does that mean?" Patton asked, confused at the concerned look Logan was giving him.

"Well illusiothaumaturgy is more common, and is the ability to manipulate the thoughts of others, as well as their perceptions of reality," Logan paused, and took a deep breath, "Pathothaumaturgy, on the other hand, has been believed to be fictional for decades, and is the ability to use other magical gifts when in a highly emotional state."

"Have you four figured out your gifts yet? It's getting quite late," Principal Comstock said, bursting into the classroom.

"I think so?" Patton said, looking to his roommates.

"We'll see," she replied, "I've got your class schedules right here, with your gifts on them."

Logan practically ran over to her just to get his class schedule.

_ Ernest, Logan: Psychothaumaturgy, Gift Sight _

He smiled to himself. He was right.

The other three went up one by one.

_ Kent, Roman: Pyrothaumaturgy _

_ Staiger, Virgil: Invisithaumaturgy, Defensithaumaturgy _

_ Brooks, Patton: Illusiothaumaturgy, Pathothaumaturgy _

"Wow, a real person with Pathothaumaturgy?" Principal Comstock said as Patton walked away with his schedule, "meet me in the dungeon during free period."

…


	3. 3

...

Breakfast was at 7, so all four of them were reluctantly awake before then. Virgil desperately hoped they were allowed coffee or something. He already had a plan if they weren't, having packed some energy drinks into his bag. The four went down to the dining hall for breakfast.

"So what do you all have the first period?" Patton asked them, attempting to sound upbeat, despite what the principal had told him last night nagging at him.

"I got spellcasting," Virgil replied.

"I have that as well," Logan looked up briefly from his breakfast, he had already memorized his schedule.

"Well, I have magic history," interrupted Roman.

"Oh so do I!" Patton looked to Roman with excitement. Those light blue eyes and wide, pretty smile put Roman under a trance for a second. Then he remembered to smile back at him.

Maybe Roman wanted to write another play.

...

"Normally a teacher would have y'all introduce yourselves before starting school work," the spellcasting teacher, Mrs.Bozeman said, "but I am not y'all's normal teacher." She began passing out textbooks to the class.

Virgil rolled his eyes, "can you believe her?"

"It is very difficult to comprehend. As she said, we don't normally start with schoolwork," Logan replied. He skimmed through his textbook, and what was in it seemed pretty easy.

Professor Bozeman went on and on about how spellcasting was the most important form of magic and it is the only magic that can be taught, blah blah blah. Virgil was falling asleep at the sound of her monotone voice. Logan had to knock him awake a couple times.

"I don't want you to get in detention," Logan said after Virgil gave him a questioning look.

"Do you care about me or is it gonna damage your reputation if your roommate gets detention?" 

"I don't know about the latter, so I guess it's the first one," Logan smiled slightly, "Why would you think that I didn't care for you at all?"

"You don't give off a caring for people vibe," Virgil stated, "you give off an 'I'm too good for you' vibe."

Logan looked surprised. He didn't want to give off that kind of vibe, especially to Virgil. He was second in their class for all of junior high, despite his anxiety about talking in class. And though he didn't want to admit it, Logan kinda wanted to be friends with him. "I'm sorry I come off that way to you Virgil."

"Come on, I know you're not like that," Virgil said, attempting to smile at Logan. They walked out of Spellcasting and towards their gift classes.

...

Roman sat in the Elemental Magic class alone, feeling extremely bored. His teacher said nothing of importance to him, mostly just introducing himself. Roman mindlessly doodled as his teacher went on and on. Little dragons, princes, witches, and sword began to cover his paper as his teacher droned on and on.

He hadn't really noticed that the girl next to him was watching him draw. She only gave his paper quick glances. Eventually, she spoke to him.

"I like your drawings," she said, "fantasy worlds are wonderful."

"Oh- uh- thanks? I'm Roman, what's your name?"

"I'm Evelyn," she replied, do you have any favourite fantasy stories?"

"Yes!" Roman said, and they talked for the rest of the class.

...

There were three lunch tables that the four boys were spaced out between, based on gifts. Logan and Patton found themselves together, while Roman found himself with Evelyn. Virgil, on the other hand, was left alone at a table it seemed was filled with crazy people.

"So what's your gift?" A boy asked him. Nothing about him stood out to Virgil, besides his striking green eyes.

"I can turn invisible," Virgil answered, "and make shields, I guess."

"Cool! I can be invincible! I'm Remus, what's your name?"

"V-virgil."

Remus continued to babble on and on, throwing around some chaotic ideas. Virgil tried to remain polite but Remus gave him bad vibes. And he suggested jumping out of a moving car.

...

Free period rolled around, and Patton started to become nervous. His roommates, who he would like to call friends, all sat in their room, while he paced in front of the door, debating whether or not he should go to the dungeon.

He faced the hallway, and it looked like his decision was made for him.

"Hello, Mr Brooks," Principal Comstock said, coming in front of Patton. "Did you forget about our plans?"

"Uh- yeah," Patton lied, completely unconvincingly.

Surprisingly, she believed him. Looks like his illusiothaumaturgy was actually helpful. "Oh! Well I asked for you to meet me in the dungeon so we could work on your pathothaumaturgy. Why don't you come with me?"

"Sure-" Patton was about to say, but she was already heading down the stairs.

"You might want to catch up, Mr. Brooks!"

Patton ran down the stairs to catch up with her.

...

Principal Comstock was reading from a very old-looking book when Patton finally made it to the dungeon. "Oh good, you're here," she said, gesturing to the only desk in the room. Patton sat down, and she began her lecture.

Apparently, pathothaumatugy was believed to be fictional for hundreds of years. And if it was, at any point real, it was bred out of existence. But here he was, Patton Brooks, the first pathothaumaturg since 1852.

"I do not yet know how you're supposed to use this pathothaumatugy you have," she finished, "But I am determined to find out."

Patton did not like this Principal at all. She told him it was almost time for dinner, and as he walked out he noticed a book on her desk.

_ Wands and Gift Transfer.  _ He swore Logan had picked up that book and read it in a few hours.  _ Weird _ , he thought.

...

Patton decided to ask Logan about the book at dinner. "Did you read  _ Wands and Gift Transfer _ ?"

"Yes, why do you ask?" Logan replied.

"Well I saw it on Principal Comstock's desk, and I'm wondering what it's about."

"Of course. The book writes on the history and working of wands, often used to assist in spellcasting, and the concept of gift transfer, the ability to move a gift from one body to another, or one body to a wand. It has detailed blueprints for a machine to accomplish the latter transfer." Logan explained.

"Gift transfer?"

"Also known as gift theft, the is moving a gift from one body to another, or from one body to a wand. It's been illegal for centuries."

This worried Patton.  _ Was Principal Comstock planning on using those blueprints to commit gift theft? _

...


	4. 4

…

The four sat together in their potions class the next day. Logan had his face in a book, as usual, and Roman and Patton found themselves chatting it up. This left Virgil feeling a little lonely. 

Or maybe a lot. 

Logan kept glancing up at Virgil from his book as if he knew something was off.  _ Am I really that obvious?  _ Virgil thought. 

“No,” Logan answered quietly. 

“Were you reading my mind?!” Virgil asked, alarmed. 

“When certain thoughts are particularly loud, I can’t help but hearing them.” 

Virgil stared at him for a few seconds. “I assume you already know everything then.”

“If you would like to talk about it, I am here to listen. I’ve read that talking about your feelings can cause some relief from them.” 

“Okay… but can we go to the bathroom? I’m not sure I want Patton to hear…” 

“Of course,” Logan stood up and offered Virgil his hand. His eyes widened for a second, but he took it. 

“I just feel lonely,” Virgil said when they got to the bathroom, “Patton’s been my best friend for years, and here he is talking it up with Roman and his other new friends. I knew he would make new friends, I just…”

“Didn’t think it would mean he had less time for you?” Logan finished.

“Exactly.”

“I understand. I had a- similar experience,” Logan stated, looking back towards the classroom for a brief second, then looked down. “Anyway, you were saying?”

“Do you have any advice?” Virgil asked. Logan was smart, right? He had to know something. 

“I’m not sure I’m the one to ask here. I’m not the best with the whole ‘feelings’ thing. Maybe you should talk to Patton about it.”

Now Virgil was going to do anything but that. 

They had to get back to class before their teacher suspected anything, so they left the bathroom, finding class nearly over.

…

Patton found himself in the dungeon with Principal Comstock again that night, there was no getting out of it. It was one of his “required classes” despite the fact the rest of the school had free period. She had a new book this time,  _ The Case of Thomas S.  _

“This is the last known case of pathothaumaturgy,” she told him, “according to Dr. Joan Overton, ‘ _in his fit of rage,_ _[Thomas] displayed abilities he had never demonstrated before._ ’” She walked closer to Patton, examining him. 

“Which means you can do basically anything.”

Patton gulped, “really?”

“Or at least, many things. Thomas demonstrated all forms of elemental magic and many forms of defensive magic, occasionally even psychothaumaturgy,” Principal Comstock smirked, “you have a lot of potential.”

…

Roman sat at his lunch table, scribbling indistinct words in nearly illegible handwriting.

“What’re you writing?” Evelyn asked, looking at Roman’s scattered pages. 

“The draft for my next play,” he said quickly, “a lonely prince finds a nice baker boy to be his assistant, they fall in love, but the prince has been betrothed to a spoiled princess since childhood.” 

Evelyn frowned, “Is there a happy ending?”

“You didn’t let me finish,” Roman snapped, “She doesn’t love the prince at all, she has another man in her home country. So on the wedding day, they call in off, and in a few weeks the prince marries the baker boy he truly loves.” 

“Sounds nice, is there anyone I could play?”

“I’m not quite sure yet. You might be able to play the princess.” Roman looked up from his papers to see Patton at the other table. His eyes lingered on the soft boy. 

“Is that who you want to play the baker boy?” Evelyn asked. Roman blushed.

…

Patton walked back to his dorm from the dungeon where he was forced to spend “free period”. This time with a book. 

“ _ The Case of Thomas S., _ ” he said to Logan, laying the book beside him before collapsing onto his bed. 

Logan looked up from his notes, “and this is required reading by,” 

“Next week.” Patton sighed. He was not ready to read this book. As much as he was excited about magic school, he hated his gift. He hated this extra, private class he had to take. 

“So this class is private, just you and Principal Comstock?” Logan asked, lightly flipping through the book Patton had set down.

“Yeah.”

“Sounds like a set up for a pedophile,” Virgil chimes in from across the room, earning blankly concerned stares. 

“Anyway, she was going on for a bit about your gift sight?” Logan perked up at Patton’s remark, “she said it was like, really rare or something. I don’t exactly remember.”

“Is that class mostly just her rambling?” Logan asked.

“Ye- how did you know that?”

_ Shit,  _ Logan thought, he’d used his gift without noticing. With something as dangerous as mind-reading, he had to learn to control it. “I apologize, Patton, I don’t have the best control over my gift just yet.” 

“It’s fine, I was going to tell you anyway,” Patton replied, a little embarrassed. Could Logan hear everything he was thinking?

“This class doesn’t seem to be teaching you anything, is it?” Logan stated. Patton shook his head. 

“I don’t feel like she’s even trying to teach me anything. I barely feel magical at all,” complaints flow out of Patton’s mouth, “do you think you could come with me? Or like, listen in on my class?”

Now Logan spent every free period in the library, and he valued this time a lot. But something was compelling him to do this, but he wasn’t sure what. “Absolutely.” 

“Thank you!” Patton squealed. He was so ready for tomorrow. 

…

“Ugh! There’s nothing to do!” Roman complained, flopping down on his bed. 

“I could show you something,” Virgil suggested, smirking at the dramatic boy. Roman perked up. “I found a nice spot on the roof.”

“You’re finding hiding spots already?” 

“When you can turn invisible it’s not that hard to hide,” Virgil laughed, “but you could come up there with me if you’d like.”

Now Roman couldn’t say no to that. 

Virgil climbed up the rough building with relative ease, leaving Roman far behind him. “How long you gonna be, slow burn?” 

“I’ll have you know,” Roman heaved, “I am not the best climber.”

“Well, no shit. Here, let me-” Virgil held his hand out and pulled Roman up to the top. 

Roman looked at the landscape in awe. It was sunset, so an orangey-pink hue covered the sky. The horizon was far out, and it felt like he owned the world. “This is gorgeous.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Virgil replied, sitting down on the ledge of the building, “it’s pretty nice out here.”

Roman sat down beside him, staring at the ground below. It looked so far down. It was certainly risky to be up here, especially as they were nearing lights out. They could so easily get caught, and yet he felt so tranquil. 

“How often do you come up here?” he asked quietly.

Virgil sighed, “whenever I need to. Whenever it all gets too much.”

“So, you come here to calm down?”

“Yeah. It’s also pretty nice to come up here at night, see the stars,” Virgil stared up at the darkening sky, “I’ve always loved a good rooftop.” 

“Is this like, your secret place?,” Roman gasped, “am I in on your secret?!”

Virgil elbowed Roman lightly, “no, I’m not that stupid.” They laughed, but Virgil heard someone approaching. He quickly turned invisible, leaving Roman to face punishment alone.

“So it’s been you making all this ruckus on the roof? And after hours? Detention for a week!” Mrs. Overton practically screamed. She was probably making more ruckus than he was. “Back to your dorm!”

Roman was dreading tomorrow.

…


	5. 5

…

“Can Logan come to class with me today?” Patton asked Principal Comstock when he saw her in the hallway. 

“Of course!” she responded automatically, “it is your class.” Patton smiled and ran ahead to catch up with Logan, who he quickly informed. 

Roman was complaining about going to detention. He would not shut up about how he didn’t deserve it, and how Virgil got him there. It was the most annoying thing he’d ever heard. He got more fed up as Roman continued to jabber on their way to class.

“Fine, I’ll break you out if you’re gonna be that pissy,” he stated bluntly. 

Roman’s jaw dropped, “you can do that?!”

“Detention oversight is an oxymoron, plus I can turn invisible,” Virgil smirked, “and I get extra points in defensive training if I show that I turned you invisible.”

“So you’re breaking me out?”

“Well, I’m free.”

Roman didn’t complain for the rest of the day. 

…

The dungeon was dark. Too dark for a classroom, in Logan’s mind. There wasn’t much furniture in the room, just a small bookshelf and a couple of desks, but it was covered in paper and half-drawn blueprints, the manic works of someone verging on insanity. Sprawled around the room were horrendously wrecked copies of forgotten books, scorned by years of readers. Logan picked up one in decent quality,  _ Wands and Gift Transfer _ . That was the book Patton had seen earlier.

He could tell Patton was nervous as soon as Principal Comstock walked into the room. Patton didn’t normally get nervous, Logan knew that. But in this case, it was understandable. The principal paced around the room like a madman, rambling nearly incoherently about how powerful Patton could be. 

“Hey Patton,” Logan whispered, “you know how to use your illusiothaumaturgy right?”

Patton sighed, “right now we’re mostly learning how not to use it.”

“Ask her about  _ Wands and Gift Transfer. _ ”

“Uh, Principal Comstock,” Patton’s voice grabbed her attention immediately, “what were you doing with  _ Wands and Gift Transfer _ ?”

Her response was quick, as if she had no other option, “well, if you’ve got all that power, who wouldn’t want it?” 

Logan would definitely need to do some more research.

“That’s barely a class,” Logan said, skimming the first few pages of the book as he and Patton walked back to their dorm.

“Yeah,” Patton looked down, “thanks for helping me ask questions.”

“If you have the ability to get anyone to answer any question, you should use it to your advantage.”

…

Roman tapped a pencil against his desk in the corner of the empty detention room, anxiously waiting for Virgil to get him out of here. He understood, even only after a few minutes, why this was a punishment. He looked around the room, hoping for a sign that an invisible figure had entered the room. 

“‘Sup dumbass,” Virgil said, pushing Roman into his desk. He snickered, then immediately disappeared.

“Mr. Kent?” Mrs. Overton called, peeking inside the detention room. When nothing was out of the ordinary, she left. 

“Okay, so we’re going out the window?” Roman asked, desperate to leave. 

“Wait let me try something,” Virgil grabbed Roman’s wrist and prayed that this would work. After about a second, he looked back up at Roman, only to see nothing. “Yes! It worked!” Virgil’s smile was wide.

“Does this change the plans?” 

“We’re going out the door.” 

“Don’t let go, got it,” Roman repeated as the two got closer to the door. Virgil shushed him and opened it, to see Mrs. Overton sleeping directly outside of it. 

“Follow me,” Virgil whispered, tugging on Roman’s arm and tiptoeing around their teacher. 

“I’m sorry but I can’t s-” 

Virgil yanked Roman towards him and put his hand over his mouth and shushed him quickly. “I shouldn’t have to carry you,” he whispered angrily when they were far enough away from their snoring teacher. 

“What if I want you to carry me?” The smirk on Roman’s face was nearly audible.

“Shut the fuck up, asshole. You’re still too loud.” 

The rest of the walk to the dorms was as stealthy as you could get. Dead silence between the pair. When they arrived at their dorm, Patton and Logan were already there. 

And they’d basically forgotten that no one could see them. The visible pair stared at the suddenly opened doors and the empty void between them. 

“Fuck, I forgot,” Virgil cursed, letting go of Roman’s wrist. 

“Virgil, you can turn other people invisible?” Patton gawked, not at all surprised about anything else. 

Virgil rubbed the back of his neck anxiously, “I guess.”

“Show one of your teachers,” Logan chimed in, “I’m sure that’s worth extra credit.”

“It is, I’ll show her.”

“Is no one going to talk to Roman?!” Roman yelled, flopping himself onto his bed. 

“I’m sorry that when Virgil is showing extreme proficiency in his gift that we focus on him and not on you,” Logan shaded. 

“God aren’t you a bitch. Some things never change.”

“I’m sorry I called you out on your blatant narcissism,”

“Roman, Logan, stop,” Patton scolded, and the arguing stopped immediately.

“Nice use of your magic there Patton,” Virgil said, sitting down next to Patton on his bed, “they shut up right away,”

Patton laughed, “unintentional.”

“But it worked.”

…

Patton couldn’t sleep that night. All he could think about were all the times he might’ve been using his magic. Did anyone actually like him, or want anything to do with him? Or was he manipulating them? Do they know when magic is being used on them? He didn’t want to be using his magic on his friends, or his family, or his teachers. Would Logan have come to class with him if he didn’t have his illusion magic? Would Principal Comstock have let Logan come to class if he didn’t have his magic?

How can he stop using his magic? It seems to only be hindering what people truly think about him.   
If only it would be taken from him. 

Frankly, Logan couldn’t sleep either. He was reading, making up for his lost free period. Reviewing the contents of  _ Wands and Gift Transfer.  _ The blueprints were incredibly detailed, anyone could figure out how to make that machine.

He would have to go back and check on that machine. 

… 


	6. 6

…

No one saw Principal Comstock around the school a whole lot. It seemed that only Patton saw her, for his class. But even he didn’t see what she was working on. It sat in the corner of the dungeon, the only thing not covered in paper. She had only just moved it there. 

A machine like this had only been built a couple times before. It was relatively small, the machinery encased in glass. A handprint was on the outside, guiding anyone who’d use it. From that print there was a spiral shape, moving around a wand. 

The mechanism was simple. It would, upon a magic user’s hand being placed in it, would remove the magic they direct (intentional or unintentional) and transfer it to the wand for use by anyone with wandcasting training. Principal Comstock seemed to be one of the rare magic users who went through with wandcasting. It was mostly used by non-magic parents to entertain and comfort their magical children, and was a fairly uncommon form of magic. She made an effort to learn it, though, and was very excited at the prospects of this machine.

She thought she’d have to get hundreds of students to possibly have all of the gifts in wands. From what the prints had said, you couldn’t have more than one gift in a wand. But Patton’s pathothaumaturgy was promising. Any gift she wanted, as one? Perfect. 

…

Patton came to class earlier than he normally would that day, trying to avoid his friends. He couldn’t bear to accidentally manipulate them again. His exhaustion was visible, having not slept at all that night. 

“You’re here early, Patton,” Principal Comstock said as he entered the dungeon, “and you look awful.”

_ I don’t want to manipulate her,  _ Patton thought,  _ but it wouldn’t hurt if she thought I was okay _ . “I’m-”

“Tell me the truth Patton.” Principal Comstock waved her arms slightly as she said this. It almost looked like an advanced spellcasting move he saw Logan practicing, though he couldn’t remember what Logan said it was for. 

“I didn’t sleep at all last night,” he replied, quickly, barely thinking about it.

“And why was that?” She made the movements again. 

“I don’t wanna manipulate my friends.”

Principal Comstock stifled her smile.

“I keep doing it accidentally, and I really don’t want to. I thought I was supposed to learn how to stop it.”

“I can certainly help,” Comstock walked towards her machine, “just put your hand right here and you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

Patton looked at the glowing spiral handprint on the machine. It looked kind of suspicious, and he didn’t want to just give her this right away. She’d hardly taught him anything. “Can I think about it first?” Patton asked, hesitantly leaving the classroom.

“Of course!” She replied, waving him out.

…

“Logan?” Patton asked as he walked into their dorm, “what does a gift transfer machine look like?”

“I can show you the diagram,” he quickly slides the book off of his shelf and opens it to a tabbed page. 

“Principal Comstock has that machine,” Patton pointed to the wand transfer machine, “she tried to get me to use it.”

“Did you?”

“I told her I’d think about it.”

“You can’t stay at this school if you let her use it on you.”

…

Roman had finally finished his script. A perfect play. He had to show it to his friends, correction, he had to show it to Patton. He had to convince him to do this play with him.

“Patton?” He said, entering the dorm, “can I ask you about something?”

“Of course!” Patton replied, sitting up on his bed and patting the spot next to him lightly. 

Roman sat down, holding the script out in front of him. “I wrote a play.”

“Oh my gosh can I read it?” Patton asked excitedly. 

“I uh,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “I wanted you to be in it.”

“Wow! Who do you want me to play?”

Roman layed out the plot for Patton, detailing the lovers' trials and struggles with expectations of their society. The villain? A dragon, infected with the spirits of their insecurities. Until they overcome everything, they cannot overtake the villain.

“And I wanted you to play the baker boy,” Roman finished

“Wow, uh,” Patton’s face went red, “I’d love to, when’s rehearsal?”

“Whenever you want it to be,” Roman replied, smiling.

…

Virgil sat on his bed, confused over his spellcasting homework. They’d supposedly gone over this weeks ago, and they had a test on all of it tomorrow. He glanced over at Logan, who was practicing things way beyond what they’d learned in class, and he was barely scraping by.  _ Maybe I should ask him for help _ , he thought,  _ But he probably wouldn’t want to. _

“Did you need help?” Logan asked, almost appearing next to Virgil.

Virgil jumped back slightly, startled at the sudden presence “Jeez, how do you keep reading my mind?” 

“I try not to, but if someone is yelling for your help across the room, sometimes you can’t stop it. So what do you need help with?”

“Spellcasting,” Virgil groaned, laying back on his bed, “I barely remember any of this.” 

Logan went over a few of the spells and movements with him, until he was understanding everything they needed to for their test. Eventually, they were just talking. 

“Can I take you somewhere?” Virgil asked, standing up and walking a few steps towards the window. 

“Sure.” Logan followed Virgil out the window. He grabbed Logan’s hand.

“They won’t see us.” He dragged him out to a small, ancient-looking tower on the outskirts of the school campus. They let go of each other’s hands to climb up, confident that they wouldn’t be spotted in that minute or so. 

Both atop the tower, they looked upon the distant horizon, the sun slowly setting in the sky.

“It’s beautiful,” was all Logan could manage to say. 

Virgil smiled, looking at the magnificent landscape before turning to Logan, the beautiful portrait sitting beside him. He took his hand in his again, and Logan’s face tinted red.

“Are they going to catch us?” He asked.

“I hope not.”

…


End file.
